Bombs in the Dark

"I was on the train and there was a sudden jolt forward ... There was a really hard banging from the carriage next door to us after the explosion - that's where it happened. There was a fire beside me. I saw flames outside on the window of my carriage ... I saw bodies. I think some people may have died."
- Sarah Reid, the tube at Liverpool Street
_

Many stories have emerged from London of people coming out of themselves to help each other, amidst the panic of the bombs. I've felt a real sense of camaraderie, where normally we would expect just anonymous faces in the crowd.

It is this collective spirit that gives me hope. In times of adversity, we see how people can empathise and care for each other. Let us hold onto this spirit in the coming days, as the nine-to-five slog struggles to re-establish itself as the norm.

The determination of Londoners to join together and get on with their lives has been widely noted and praised. A perfect demonstration of the British "stiff upper-lip" that kept us level-headed during the turmoil of the Blitz and a long history of invasion.

But amidst our resolve to resume life as normal, let us not lose the opportunity to understand why this has happened. Let us not blindly absolve our responsibilities to the powers-that-be. They have played their part in creating this. Their greedy and divisive aims must be exposed and challenged – and at the same time, the selfish lie of the terorrists' dogma must be laid bare and crushed.

We have fanatics on both sides. May we hold dear to our heart-felt, human values and fight the vested interests on all sides until the true spirit of humanity is established.
_

"However dense the cimmerian darkness may be, the crimson dawn must follow. The fiends of hell may burst out in loud laughter, but all must fade in the void with the sunrise...

Those who love humanity and those who desire the welfare of living beings should be vigorously active from this very moment, after shaking off all lethargy and sloth, so that the most auspicious hour arrives at the earliest."
- Shrii Shrii Anandamurti, New Year's Day, 1971

[blogged • geotagged]